Hostage standoff in Arcola ends; deputy critically injured

Friday

Jun 22, 2007 at 12:01 AMJun 22, 2007 at 9:01 PM

ARCOLA — A daylong hostage standoff Thursday gripped this small Douglas County town, where a suspected gunman holed up inside a bank following a series of events that included the shooting of a sheriff’s deputy.

Daniel Pike

By DANIEL PIKE

STAFF WRITER

ARCOLA — A daylong hostage standoff Thursday gripped this small Douglas County town, where a suspected gunman holed up inside a bank following a series of events that included the shooting of a sheriff’s deputy.

The standoff ended peacefully about 7 p.m., when the last of five hostages was released from First Mid-Illinois Bank and Trust and the suspect — who was believed to be armed with a handgun — was arrested, authorities said.

That man was not immediately identified. Another man allegedly involved in the incident, Yusef Kareem Brown, 23, of Chicago, was apprehended before the standoff began. It’s unknown what charges the men might face.

Douglas County sheriff’s deputy Tom Martin was shot in the face and torso by one of two men who robbed a family in Camargo, about 15 miles to the northeast of Arcola, at gunpoint about an hour before the standoff began, police said.

By Thursday evening, Martin, a 59-year-old father of two, had successfully undergone one of two planned surgeries at Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana and was listed in critical but stable condition, according to Douglas County Sheriff Charles McGrew.

The unrest drew national media attention to the town of fewer than 3,000 in Old Order Amish country, roughly 80 miles east of Springfield.

Sabrina Medina lives near the railroad tracks where the two men, who were running from police, wrecked a van they allegedly stole from the Camargo family.

Like many who live in the area immediately surrounding the bank, she was evacuated from her home and spent much of the afternoon at the municipal building, where police gave hourly press updates.

Medina said things like this simply don’t happen in Arcola.

“I walked out and there were cops everywhere,” said Medina, who said she knew Brad Pullen, the final hostage in the bank. “I was like, ‘Wow.’ They were coming from all directions. Marked, unmarked, everything.”

Illinois State Police Sgt. Bill Emery declined to release the names of any of the five hostages, although Pullen’s family told the Associated Press that the 27-year-old bank manager and father was in fact the final hostage. Emery did confirm the last hostage was a male employee of the bank.

“I think it’s a really sad situation,” said Arcola’s Kevin Bishop, superintendent of a local golf course who also said he knew both Brad Pullen and Jim Pullen, Brad Pullen’s grandfather, another hostage who had been released earlier in the day.

Bishop and his wife, Becky, live about one block west of the bank, and they hung around the press conferences because there was nowhere else to go. They had friends in town who offered to put them up for the night, had it been necessary.

The Bishops asked Emery after one press briefing for permission to return to their home and retrieve their pet beagle, but Emery said no.

“I don’t know if you can ever be prepared for something like this in a small town,” Becky Bishop said.

The trouble began about 9:45 a.m., when state police pulled over a silver Mitsubishi Infiniti on Interstate 57 about 12 miles outside Arcola because it had tinted windows, according to a press release issued by Emery.

The motorist fled, eventually leaving the interstate at the Tuscola exit. Roughly an hour later, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department responded to a report of two men who had entered a home in Camargo and robbed the occupants at gunpoint.

The men left the home in the owner’s van, which was later spotted by Martin, the deputy. He was shot as he attempted to intercept the van, although he was able to relay its direction of travel to police after being shot.

State police caught up with the van on Illinois 45, pursuing it at speeds reaching 100 miles an hour. At one point, one of the men inside the van fired a shot at troopers, striking the windshield of a state police vehicle.

The van eventually re-entered I-57, according to state police, then exited at Arcola and traveled west on Illinois 133. As the van reached at gravel area surrounding some railroad tracks, it lost traction, spun out and came to a stop.

The driver of the van, later identified as Brown, was taken into custody. The passenger ran into the nearby bank on Chestnut Street, where he took five hostages.

Police were not immediately certain which of the men allegedly shot Martin or at the state trooper.

Emery said at least some of the hostages were bank employees, although he could not say how many might have been customers or other non-employees.

Over the course of the next several hours, the gunman inside gradually released hostages. By 3:30 p.m., all but Brad Pullen was free.

Emery said an FBI hostage negotiation team had been in contact with the holed-up gunman. Authorities also had been in telephone contact with Pullen, who apparently wasn’t harmed during the ordeal.

Emery said the gunman had made requests of police, but he declined to elaborate. He was not aware of any threats made by the man toward police or hostages.

State, county and city police from around the region responded to Arcola. They blocked off an area several blocks wide, cutting off access to residents and the media. Train traffic also was shut down during the standoff, McGrew said.

About 50 to 75 residents who lived within two blocks of the bank were evacuated and were offered shelter at a local church until the standoff ended, Emery said.

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